Star light, Star bright
by klemonademouth
Summary: Albus Severus is a dreamer, unlike his father. Scorpius Malfoy is afraid and cautious... but he's not his father. Two eleven year olds under a starry sky. Pre-slash-  close friendship if you want. Oneshot.


**A/N: this short, pre-slash oneshot is for my best friend and her obsession with the sky... particularly the night sky (as well as our mutual love of Stardust... some ideas from which I shamelessly nicked). There are some slashy feelings between Scorpius and Albus but no boylove. sorry. Ary, I hope you're reading this, because this is for you, love! **

It was three o'clock in the morning when Scorpius rolled over in his bed and he saw that Albus wasn't there. It didn't actually surprise him. During the short time Scorpius had known Albus, he figured out that the boy was slightly loony. He would get up in the middle of the night to wander the castle on a whim, in almost a dream-like state, and it would be up to Scorpius to drag him back to their shared dormitory. He often would tease the boy about it later, saying that the Sorting Hat should have put him in Hufflepuff instead.

Scorpius swung his legs over the side of his bed and into his slippers, then shuffled quietly across the room so as not to wake any of his fellow house-mates.

Albus wasn't in any of his usual wandering-places, and Scorpius was about to head back to his dorm, befuddled, before he saw the giant oak doors that were supposed to be closed. They were open- just a sliver, but still enough for Scorpius to see the thin beam of moonlight casting itself onto the stone floor.

He followed the path of moonlight down the sloping black lawn to the inky lake, where a small, dark figure lay barely visible beneath the tree. The leaves whispered as Scorpius drew closer. Albus' eyes opened, and without looking at Scorpius, he patted the grass beside him.

Scorpius surprised himself by lying down next to Albus, kicking off his slippers and wriggling his feet into the cold, dewy grass. Al smiled, and reached for Scorpius' hand, which wasn't all that unusual for him. He was a strangely affectionate eleven-year-old boy.

They lay there in silence for what could have been eons before Al spoke, rolling onto his side to face Scorpius. "Do you think," he said, "that stars could watch us?"

He stared at Scorpius, who stared back.

Al often said things like that- dreamy, whimsical things that made him so unlike his father. Harry had never gotten to be a child- somehow amongst the evil aunts and uncles and fame and dark wizards he'd skipped over the dreaming fantasy land of childhood and landed straight in the land of adults. But lying beside him was his best friend, Albus, whose hands were still soft from a life of love and not torment, whose eyes still sparkled with a thousand dreams and the innocence of someone who still believed that life could possibly be fair.

Scorpius thought about his question, and he thought about Harry, who had defeated the darkest wizard of all time with a simple disarming spell. Harry, who up until his eleventh birthday, had believed that his parents died in a car crash, the same one in which he'd received his lightning bolt scar. Harry, who despite everything had learned to truly love people- his godfather, his two best friends, a lonely professor, a girl who was now his wife. If that was possible, anything was possible.

He couldn't say that, though, not to Al. They didn't talk about their fathers- it was almost an unspoken rule. He was lucky to be friends with Al in the first place- most magic born witches and wizards would catch one earful of his surname and go running for the hills. While Al was immediately hailed a hero, Scorpius was shunned. It was okay for Al to be whimsical, because he was Harry Potter's son and it was just an odd quirk. But if Scorpius, the son of a pureblood traitor was a romantic in any way, he'd be branded a pansy.

It was almost bizarre how, a month ago when they'd met on the train, Al hadn't even blinked more than what was strictly necessary when Scorpius said his last name. Albus had said something like, "great, how are you at pulling pranks?" and tugged him away to set off firecrackers underneath his cousin Victoire's seat.

Because Al was the only one to look at him and see Scorpius Malfoy instead of Draco, Scorpius was the only one to look at his friend and see Albus Potter instead of Harry.

"D'you think stars could be people?" Al asked this time, his eyes drifting shut.

Scorpius didn't answer again, because Al didn't seem to expect him to. Instead, he watched the stars glitter against the black sky, and was struck with an idea.

"They _could_ be people, Al," he said, and Al opened his eyes, surprised. "They could be people, a trillion witches and wizards, all holding up their wands and saying 'lumos!'"

Al's eyes lit up, and he laughed in delight. "Now you've got it, Scorp," he said, and finally, Scorpius _did_ get it.

**A/N: Ary, you are my best friend in the whole world and I will miss you forever this year at college. Our love of Harry Potter slash will keep us together :D**

**For everyone else, I hope you enjoyed!**

**Love, Zoey**


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